Legend of Zelda: The Scroll of Sand
by Jolteon Master
Summary: When Prince Link and Princess Zelda discover a young male Gerudo named Ganon they quickly decide to help him and in the process make a new friend. But as Ganon regains his memories things become much more complicated and the three must try to break the chains of fate. Rated T for language, and possible romance.
1. A Horse Race

**Hey there! Jolteon Master here! To those who don't know me I really hope you enjoy my latest work. I try to bring some fun and enjoyment into my writing and I really hope you like it!**

**So without further ado please Read and Review!**

* * *

****Legend of Zelda: The Scroll of Sand

It had been many years since Ganon had been trapped in the Sacred Realm, well what had been formerly known as the Sacred Realm, once Ganon had entered the realm it quickly grew twisted and dark filled with beings as evil as Ganon himself, and those years he had spent within this realm had not been kind. While his body did not age in this realm, his mind deteriorated as any normal being's would. His mind had lived longer than nature should allow and consequently had gathered more information than it could hold, seen more things than it could ever remember, thought more than should be thought.

It was a condition of his imprisonment that Ganon had discovered only when it became too late for him to do anything, even though there was not much he could have done anyway. Rather than do the merciful thing, however, and simply end his life and thus his misery, the evil king began searching for some cure to his malady. He searched far and wide through the once Sacred Realm, there were many miraculous items and beings contained within the realm. He came across an orchard that bore fruits that could heal any physical illness, he met beings who could bestow tremendous power, at a steep price of course. None could heal his fragile mind, however.

Save for one. A being that had once been more beautiful, kind, and powerful than Princess Zelda herself but who had grown ugly and cruel once Ganon entered the realm knew of a way to save his sanity. She hated him for what his presence had done to her and wished nothing more than to make him pay, and this was the perfect opportunity for her to do so.

She sent a minion of hers to make sure the evil king arrived upon her doorstep as soon as possible. Ganon was of course overjoyed, not in a happy way of course but in an evil, scary way, at the thought that he could be saved from his fate.

When he met the now aging crone he nearly leapt back in disgust, she was the most repulsive thing he had ever met, and he had seen, even created, some repulsive things in his life. Her skin seemed to be melting off of her bones, one of her eyes were bloated, her black, scaly tongue licked along her orange tooth as she spoke and she had the most evil smile when she greeted the door. When she spoke it sounded like a cat being strangled in the middle of the desert with a strong, dry wind blowing by.

"Please, enter my sire." She stepped aside and bowed to Ganon as he entered her abode. His cloak stirred the dust on the floor while he walked by not giving the hag a second look, both to avoid vomiting as well as to assert dominance. The witch walked up behind him and quietly took his arm, leading him into a tunnel that delve deep into the ground. They walked for a long time until the tunnel finally opened into a small cavern with a standard witches cauldron bubbling over a witch dropped Ganon's arm and hobbled around to the opposite side of the cauldron. She stared at him with her one good eye and stood waiting for him to talk.

It took the evil king a full minute to understand what the witch was waiting on. He cleared his throat and fixed the witch with one of his most evil glares.

"You say _you_ can cure me of my...my...um..."

"You're mental illness, your majesty?"

"I know full well what is wrong with me, hag, can you cure me?" The witch chuckled, it was dry and humorless.

"Oh, I can do more than cure you, sire. Not only can I save your mind, but I can also help you to escape from this land. But it all depends on what price you are willing to pay."

"I have more gold and jewels than you could ever hope to count." She waved away his offer and scoffed.

"Bah! I have no use for trinkets such as that. What else have you got?"

"You can have power over any part of my...my.."

"Kingdom, sire?" Her terms of respect grew more and more sarcastic with each utterance.

"I do not need to be corrected, you wretch, do you accept my offer?" She shrugged her hunched shoulders.

"I already have great power, I do not believe I need any more." Ganon was quickly running out of options of payment, especially with his frail state of mind.

"Dammit, you witch! Give me what I need or I will obtain it by force!" Her manner quickly turned sour and angry.

"I offer my services, invite you into my home, and this is how you repay me? Obviously you do not require this remedy as greatly as I was led to believe. In fact, you may leave now, _sire_." Ganon's attitude suddenly took a turn for the more subservient.

"No! You must help me! I can not go on...on...dammit!"

"I believe you mean to say 'living.'"

"Yes! I _need_ you." The witch observed him shrewdly, rubbing her chin as she pondered.

"Very well, I will help you, but here's my price. I will take from you the years you have spent in this existence, your strength, and most importantly your memories. The only way you could possibly regain any of these would be to find the Scroll of Sand."

"Where could I find that?"

"I'm afraid that's confidential, your majesty."Her demands seemed extremely steep and vague, he was not entirely certain what some of her demands could entail, but he was out of options.

"I accept." The witch clapped her hands together in utter joy and began giggling like a schoolgirl.

"Perfect, let's begin, shall we?" The cavern became a whirlwind of activity as she witch scurried around looking for ingredients, throwing them into the cauldron, and occasionally stirring with a large wooden spoon. After throwing in many ingredients and vehemently stirring for several minutes the witch took the spoon out of the mixture in the cauldron and brought it to her lips. She daintily blew to cool and took a cautious sip and smacked her lips.

"Almost, but it needs one more thing." Ganon approached the witches side and looked into the cauldron.

"What?" Cackling madly the witch grabbed the demon lord with a strength that exceeded his own and threw the large man into the cauldron. His screams echoed around the small cavern and could even be heard from the entrance of the tunnel. The witch continued to cackle as the cauldron began to bubble more violently, even to the point where the cauldron rocked back and forth on the fire. Smoke and steam rose and circled around the cavern killing whatever small creatures had been able to hide inside the area.

Without any warning all sounds ceased, the smoke and steam dissipated, and the witch stopped cackling and hunched over to catch her breath. When she looked into the cauldron not a drop of the mixture she had prepared remained. Gone too was the evil man who had caused the distortion of this realm.

A bright light burst forth from the cauldron and quickly grew pushing out to envelop the entire realm. All of the things that had been turned ugly and twisted by Ganon's evil heart returned to their normal state of being. The realm became sacred once more and a soft golden light filled the world. The Sacred Realm was a beautiful place again, and any trace of Ganon's existence were erased forever.

* * *

Hyrule- Gerudo Desert

Several Centuries after the events of Ocarina of Time

"I bet I can get back to Hyrule Field before you!" Said the cocky teenage boy. His long blonde hair bounced slightly with each step his reddish-brown steed, Epona, took. The girl with similar hair who rode on a majestic gray haired stallion named Arion simply rolled her eyes.

"We've done this before, Link, I always win, and we both know it's not Epona's fault." The boy who had been almost lounging in his saddle sat up and sported a cocky grin.

"Oh, come on Zelda, I bet I can beat you _this_ time, I've been practicing and I am, after all, a descendent of the great Hero of Time." Zelda leaned over just enough to punch the boy in the arm.

"So am I, brainiac. That's what being siblings means." Link held his arm where Zelda had hit him and feigned being hurt.

"Ouch, a little violent today are we?"

"I'm about to get a lot more violent if you don't straighten up and start acting like a diplomat for the Kingdom of Hyrule and a member of the royal family." Link was the one to roll his eyes this time.

"Ugh, way to make this trip sound a lot more boring, Zelda. This is one of our few chances to get out of the town and you have to make it sound all stuffy and dull. I didn't even get to draw my sword once during our meeting with the Gerudo."

"That's a good thing, Link. It means we're finally getting somewhere. After all these years true peace is just beyond the horizon. The thing our family has worked so hard for for so long, ever since King Daphnes the First sent lowly villagers to..." Zelda was interrupted by the rude snoring of Link who was pretending to be asleep in his saddle.

Instead of coming up with something witty to wake him up, Zelda got a sneaky grin on her face and leaned close to Arion's ear. She then grabbed his reins tight and kicked his sides. Arion immediately went off on a gallop leaving Link choking in his dust. Link grabbed Epona's reins and kicked her sides as well sending her into a gallop as well. Rubbing dust from his eyes Link managed to yell out to Zelda.

"No fair! You got a head start!" All he got in response was the tinkling laughter of Princess Zelda. Link's face turned into one of determination and he leaned down close to Epona's head. "We can win this one girl, you know what they say 'Cheaters never get to dinner first!'" Epona rolled her head much like Zelda had just rolled her eyes, but nevertheless she dug down and started to gain speed.

Soon Link and Zelda were neck to neck, Link took the opportunity to look over at Zelda and stick out his tongue. Up ahead the entrance to the Gerudo Valley gaped, there was only room enough on that bridge for one horse and Link knew that that would have to be his chance to get ahead. He was going to out-chicken Zelda, she was way to big a wimp to try crossing that bridge at the same time as Link, and he knew it. Link kept yelling reassurances at Epona that they were going to win this time.

Link kept all of his focus on just getting into the valley and getting across the bridge. They burst into the valley carrying sand behind them looking like, as Link imagined, some gods of the desert. Soon the bridge appeared and Link willed Epona to keep going to get just beyond the bridge. Epona's hooves clacked heavily on the wood of the bridge, and Link didn't have Epona slow down until he heard her hooves clacking against stone.

Link reared Epona up and turned her back towards the desert side of the valley. He raised both of his arms in the air and was prepared to yell and sing about how he had finally beaten Zelda, the great Zelda, the smart Zelda, the oh-so more experienced horse rider Zelda. That was, until he noticed that Zelda was not even across the valley. He saw Zelda climbing down from her horse just inside the desert, then he heard her yelling for him.

Link brought Epona next to Arion as fast as he could and leapt down to join Zelda on the ground. She was kneeling on the ground, getting her diplomatic dress dirty, next to a boy who couldn't have been much older than themselves. The boy was distinctly Gerudo from his brown skin to his flaming red hair, possibly even a descendant of nobility judging from the amber gem set within his forehead.

That didn't make any sense though, the Gerudo were an all-female tribe that only gave birth to a male once every hundred years. Link and Zelda had just finished talking to that male too, King Nabon, who maintained a very royal air about him, despite his being ten, an air that was more royal than anything Link had ever been able to put on at least.

Zelda was confused as well and looked up at Link to see what he was thinking. Seeing that he was just as confused Zelda proceeded to check the boy's pulse and leaned down to check his breathing. His breath was shallow and his pulse was slow. Otherwise the boy was completely unharmed, this worried Zelda and led her to suspect magic may have been used against this poor boy. She knew what she could do to help, but unfortunately lacked the necessary tools, leaving behind her usual medical supplies at the castle assuming she wouldn't require them on this peace mission. Link kneeled down next to her to check the boy as well.

"What do you think, Z?" Zelda responded by grabbing him underneath his arms and lifting up his upper body.

"Help me get him onto Epona."

"Why Epona?"

"Because, I need to get back to the castle as fast as possible to prepare any medicines he might require. Plus, if he wakes up and is hostile, you have the sword."

"Then why are we even taking him?"

"We can't just leave him here! He might die on his own, or if the Gerudo find him they'll probably kill him out of confusion. Plus, it's our sworn duty to help and protect all of the subjects of Hyrule, no matter what race or breed, the Hero of Time himself made that decree."

Link rolled his eyes and grabbed the boys feet, the robe he wore made the boy seem much larger than he actually was, in actuality he was very light much like other Gerudo. Link and Zelda managed to lay the boy across Epona with very little difficulty. Zelda hopped back onto Arion and grabbed Link's hand before she left. Squeezing his hand she leaned over to him.

"Be careful, big brother." He squeezed back.

"You too, sis." She let go and Arion took off at a fast canter. She was across the valley and in Hyrule Field headed towards Hyrule Castle Town and eventually to Hyrule Castle itself. Link looked back at his new passenger studying him carefully for a minute. Link took a deep breath and let it out, he patted Epona's neck and swung himself up into the saddle.

Link placed a hand on the back of the boy to steady him and had Epona take off at a fast trot. As they crossed the bridge Link looked up at the thin slice of sky above and said a quick prayer to the goddesses.

"Nayru give us the wisdom to know this boy, Farore give us the courage to help him, and Din give us the power to defend ourselves if we need to."

* * *

**Ahhhhh, finally, you do not know how long that has been percolating in my brain! A full day at least!**

**Anyway please tell my how I did, what you would like to see later on, and what you liked or, Nayru forbid, disliked.**


	2. Bedside Manners

It had been three days since Zelda and Link brought the young stranger from the Gerudo Desert back to Hyrule Castle. Zelda had tried everything short of a miracle to wake the boy, and while his breathing was normal and his pulse was stable he still refused to awake. The castle employed plenty of capable doctors, none of whom could hold a flame to the abilities of Princess Zelda, but all of them, including Zelda, were stumped as to the causes of the boy's endless sleep. Luckily, Zelda had devised a kind of magic where the boy could remain hydrated in his dormant state.

Link had helped the doctors bathe and change the boy when he had brought him back to the castle. It gave Link a better understanding of who the boy was, a weakling. The boy was thin, almost painfully so, he had little muscle to speak of, his body was long with spindly arms and legs, his face, however, was undeniably handsome and luckily drew attention away from his thin body thanks to the gem embedded in his forehead.

After the boy had been stabilized in the hospital wing of the castle Zelda and Link were both called to present the results of their latest mission to their father, King Daphnes Link Hyrule the Fourth, or as they preferred to call him, Daddy. In the castle, on days without feasts or festivals, the siblings wore less formal attire, Link dressed in tan trousers and a simple shirt that was a royal purple with the Hylian Crest imprinted on the front while Zelda remained at least a little more formal with a dress in the same purple also with the traditional Hylian Crest and the Sheikah symbol just below it. The two approached the King in his study located towards the front of the castle which overlooked Hyrule Castle Town and beyond that the rest of Hyrule. To the south the thick forests of the Kokiri were abundant, the east was dominated by Death Mountain, the abode of the Gorons, just below that was Zora's Domain which was out of sight, and finally to the west was the valley of the Gerudo, the only tribe to remain completely autonomous from the kingdom of Hyrule. The King looked jovial, as he usual, and gave his children a warm smile as they sat down in a pair of comfortable armchairs.

"So, my children, how was your quest?" Zelda smiled.

"It was hardly a "quest", daddy. It was simply a routine diplomatic mission to.."

"Blah, blah, blah, there she goes again making everything sound as boring as possible. Unfortunately, that's actually how it was, at least until we found the boy." Zelda gave Link a sharp look while the King chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that the mission was uneventful. Now, tell me more about this young man you found." Zelda composed herself and spoke calmly, despite her annoyance of a brother making faces at her.

"We found the boy passed out on the outskirts of Gerudo Desert, right beside the entrance to Gerudo Valley. At the time his health was severely degraded. He seems perfectly fine now, except he still remains unconscious." The King furrowed his brow.

"Indeed, I have been unable to see the boy myself but I have heard of what race he hails from, which disturbs me. Do either of you have any idea as to how it is possible that there are _two_ male Gerudos within the same lifetime?" Zelda shook her head and replied.

"It is very strange and I have given the issue some thought, I have also consulted the scrolls and texts in the library. So far I have been unable to find anything that explains this phenomenon." Link had thrown his legs across one of the arms of the chair and lounged casually while he spoke.

"Are we sure the Gerudo can only have one male every hundred years?" The King nodded.

"Certain, we have detailed documentation of meetings with the Gerudo's kings over the past millennia. They have incredible life spans, some living right up to 100 before passing away, but they have never had two Gerudo males exist within the same time period."

"Could he be from another tribe?" Zelda and the King both paused at this. The King stroked his furry chin with his hand thoughtfully.

"We have no official documentation of any other Gerudo tribes existing." Zelda looked up at her father.

"Actually, in the Hero of Time's journal of his adventures he talked briefly of a tribe of Gerudo's that were pirates in a far off land. He stated that he only met females, but there is a small possibility that this boy is _that_ tribe's male heir and somehow wound up here." The King laughed victoriously and pounded the table with a mighty "bang!"

"I'll bet my crown that that's who the boy is!" Link smiled as he leaned his head back into his interlaced fingers and closed his eyes.

"You're welcome."

* * *

Link stood aside and watched as Zelda checked the boy's vitals once again. Zelda and Link were the boy's constant companions while he slept leaving his side only to eat, sleep, and...you know. Therefore it is only natural that they would be the ones there when the boy finally awoke. It started as a twitch in his wrist as Zelda was checking his pulse. A slight tug in the arm, then the boy's eyes squeezed and opened. They were a bright yellow that surely could have glowed in the dark, only the Gerudo had such eyes.

His eyes darted to Zelda who had backed away from the bed hand over her heart then to Link who had moved towards it. The boy's eyes widened in alarm and he sat up, sheets falling to expose his bare chest. Zelda blushed but managed boy to not look away. The boy looked back and forth between Zelda and Link a couple of times before he spoke. His voice was surprisingly deep and was, in Zelda's opinion, silky and sweet like warm honey with an accent that made Zelda think of a warm breeze blowing from the desert.

"Who are you?" Link took another step towards the bed so there was only a few feet left between him and the boy.

"We should be asking you the same question." Zelda glared at him.

"Link! He is our guest, be at least a little respectful." She looked kindly down to the boy in the bed. "I'm Zelda and this is, unfortunately, my brother Link."

"Great, glad we got that over with. Now, who are you?" The boy opened his mouth to answer but stopped and looked down. His voice came out in barely a whisper.

"I...I don't know. I can't remember anything." Zelda took a step forward as her instincts were to comfort the boy, but she maintained a fair distance between herself and bed.

"That's okay, I'm sure we can..." The boy suddenly looked up.

"Ganon. My name is Ganon." Zelda smiled warmly.

"It's nice to meet you, Ganon." Everyone relaxed slightly after that moment, Link remained standing and made sure to keep an eye on the boy at all times while Zelda proceeded to take a seat in a chair next to the bed. Ganon leaned against the head of his bed and listened as Link and Zelda told him of all that had occurred over the past few days. Ganon said nothing as they explained and continued to say nothing when they finished. He looked down into his clasped hands as if he was thinking, or scared.

When the two tried to ask him questions about who he was they found he truly could not remember anything. They mentioned the word "Gerudo" several times and he replied with blank stares. Zelda was also rather adept at magic, something Link could never get the handle of, and used her magic to tell if Ganon was really telling the truth, and she could find nothing to show that he was lying. The siblings told Ganon they were going to step outside of the room for a minute, he only nodded silently. Zelda carefully closed the door behind her and turned to face Link.

"He's not lying."

"I know, but that still doesn't help us."

"At least he's finally awake, maybe I can help him recover his memory."

"You can do that?" Zelda looked down shyly for a second.

"Well, no, but I can search the archives for anything that could help. Who knows? Maybe he'll recover by himself. All we can do right now is keep him safe and healthy."

"And put some meat on that scrawny body of his." Zelda rolled her eyes but smiled.

"I'll leave that to you. I'm going to tell father what we've learned so far. Make sure that Ganon is taken care of, properly." Translation: "_Hurt him and die._" With that Zelda turned and headed down the long, tall hallway of the hospital wing. Link smiled to himself and went back inside to find Ganon in the same position he had left him.

"Get up! We're going sword training!"

* * *

"I've been put in charge of your care, by Zelda herself I might add, and I think you need some exercise." After hastily pulling Ganon out of bed, sheets and all, Link led the stumbling boy down the many hallways of Hyrule Castle towards the armory wing. Along the way Link explained how he was now Ganon's "doctor", while leaving out some rather important details. Ganon was still confused after having just woken up after three days, and the disruption certainly didn't help. All of a sudden, Ganon's stomach growled and he quickly wrapped his arms around his middle to try and silence it. Link started laughed, until his stomach let out a rumble of its own. Link stopped laughing and blushed slightly. "Maybe we should get some food first."

After stopping by the kitchens where Link stealthfully grabbed a couple of loaves of bread and a few apples. Ganon ate with a voracious appetite and within minutes his loaf of bread and two apples were gone. Usually Link was the first one finished at any meal, but even he had trouble keeping up. When Link finished he stood up and offered his hand to help Ganon up.

"Come on let's head to the armory."

"But I just woke up from a coma! Isn't it a better idea to let me rest?" Link laughed, it sounded vaguely like his father's laugh.

"You've had at least three days of rest. What you need is exercise." With that Link grabbed Ganon's hand and hauled him to his feet. Link led them further into the castle taking many hallways and stairways until Link finally stopped and opened a door to his right. He led Ganon into a room full of exercise outfits in various sizes and styles. The outfits had been created following the designs of the Hero of Time's many outfits, some could let the wearer breathe underwater, and some could withstand the hottest temperatures, Zelda and Link's diplomatic outfits were weaved out of similar cloth to help with the desert heat.

Link walked down the aisles of clothing studying each one, obviously looking for something, while Ganon walked closely behind gazing at the hundreds of colors that made up the clothes. At the end of one aisle he let out a triumphant shout and grabbed a suit made of tan material. He thrust it towards Ganon.

"Put it on, I'm going to go get mine on." Link ran off to put on his training gear leaving Ganon alone with the suit. Ganon looked around to make sure no one else was around before quickly stripping and just as quickly putting on the suit. He quietly left the bed sheets he had been wearing and went to find a mirror. He found floor-to-ceiling mirror in a corner of the room.

The tan garb gave Ganon the look of a desert nomad and it even accentuated the gem in his forehead. The hat that came with it, however, looked strange on him and he decided against wearing it. Ganon heard footsteps approaching him to his left and turned to see Link walking towards him in a similar suit, but in an emerald green, with two wooden swords. Link stopped to look at Ganon.

"Not bad, the sleeves are a little loose, but we can get that fixed easily. Here, catch!" He threw one of the swords towards Ganon who tried to catch it but ended up missing and falling to the floor. Link doubled over laughing.

"Boy do we have some learning to do!" His dark cheeks burning, Ganon picked up his sword and followed closely behind Link to the training arena. the arena was mammoth and doubled as an actual arena during festivals and sporting event such as jousting, horse racing, etc. The stadium acted as an extension of the castle itself and the west side of the castle opened into the arena through a gated entrance through which Link and Ganon entered.. Training equipment was scattered throughout the arena except for one area in the center, a thirty foot circle where the knights practiced their dueling. Link placed Ganon on one side of the circle and took his place on the other side facing Ganon.

"Alright let's get started." They started off with the basics, stance, technique, and the like. Link was a patient and dedicated teacher, it was evident how much he loved sword fighting. In no time Link had helped Ganon through all of the basic sword stances.

"Great! Now let's try some dueling." Ganon blinked, the next thing he saw was Link running towards him wooden sword raised. Ganon quickly raised his own sword to block Link's downward strike. Link struck and whirled around Ganon landing a strike on his upper back. Ganon was thrown face-first into the ground and got a mouthful of sand.

"Come on! You gotta try harder than that. Now I get that it's your first time and everything but..." Suddenly Ganon swung his feet under Link to knock him to the ground. Link jumped straight into the air.

"Hey, nice try, you almost had me that time." Ganon quickly stood up and turned to face Link, holding his sword in front of himself. Link smirked and ran at Ganon and swung his sword wide. This time Ganon met Link's sword and blocked his strike. Link quickly thrusted, cut, and slashed, Ganon blocked every single attack . The two were relentless and completely focused on each other, to the point where neither one noticed the crowd gathering in the stands and windows overlooking the arena from the west end of the castle. After one particularly strong slash Link and Ganon jumped to opposite ends of the circle, panting with sweat dripping of their bodies. Link smirked.

"Alright, I've tried just about everything, except one." Link held his sword to his left and closed his eyes. The sword soon began to glow green and a soft humming began to fill the air. Ganon held a defensive stance, even though he had no idea what to expect. Link's head suddenly snapped up, eyes wide open, and it was like a top had been set spinning. Link became a blur as he span so fast that he was a hurricane that slowly edged its way towards Ganon. Ganon stood transfixed unsure what to do but hold his ground. Soon Link was but a few feet away, then five, then three, Ganon could feel the air being created by Link's spinning, then two feet, then one, then...

"_Daphnes Link Hyrule!_ _What, in the name of Nayru, do you think you're doing?" _The hurricane immediately fell apart, Link's sword flew into the stands and Link flew past Ganon and landed ten feet away with his head in the sand. Ganon turned to the person who had just interrupted their fight and saw Princess Zelda standing in the entrance to the castle with her arms crossed. She quickly crossed the distance between herself and the boys and glared at Link's huddled figure.

"Ohhhhh, Link, you are in for a world of trouble."


End file.
